Four Times Inara Could've Had Mal On His Knees
by Maeve Bran
Summary: Four Times Inara Could've Had Mal On His Knees But Didn't, and The One Time She Did. Mal was grateful that Inara was not a sadistic woman.


**Title**: Four Times Inara Could've Had Mal On His Knees But Didn't, and The One Time She Did

**Author**: Maeve Bran

**Rating**: M

**Summary**: Mal was grateful that Inara was not a sadistic woman.

**Disclaimer**: Whedon's, not mine.

**Spoilers**: Firefly in general; pre-"Serenity"

**Notes**: This was a Five Things Meme for sweptawaybayou. I sometimes see this pairing but I don't normally ship it. (I'm a Mal/River kinda gal.)

* * *

1.

Mal had always admired Inara, from the first moment they met anyway. He had liked her spunk and insistence on having her way, even if he didn't like where that way was headed.

He had never admired her spunk more than when she came into the railway station on Paradiso claiming he was her runaway indentured man. Mal realized that she could have demanded all sorts of things from him as public humiliation. She could have had him on his knees begging forgiveness for running out on her. Inara could have even demanded that he lick her boots and he would have had to do it to keep his cover from being blown. Mal was grateful that Inara was not a sadistic woman.

2.

Mal knew he was in trouble from the moment swords were mentioned. He knew that the trouble had doubled when Inara crept into his room and picked up a sword. She had the point at his chest and could command him to do anything.

Once again he started thinking that if she had any dominance kinks, she could easily force him down to his knees in front of her. Inara could make him do all sorts of things he didn't really know about but could imagine; after all she was a registered Companion. Companions knew all sorts of things he didn't but would love to learn, though first Mal would have to survive the coming sword fight.

He shifted his attention to what she was actually doing with the sword and tried to learn what she was teaching.

3.

Mal was sure he was in for it. He had asked Inara to be back up in case Saffron or Bridget or Yolanda or whatever-the-frilly-heck-her-name-was double crossed them again. He'd had to plead with Inara a bit to gain her acquiescence, though she had finally agreed. Fortunately, as Inara had been needed and had done her part admirably.

Now she was standing there talking to him while he was standing around all naked. He certainly wasn't being articulate, but he was naked. He knew that she could be bidding her time in what she was going to ask for payback. He hoped it might involve being on his knees in front of her but he was more certain that she would just want her share of the Lassiter.

4.

Mal could see, at the funeral, that Inara was grieving her friend's death mightily. He hoped that the fact that, yesterday morning, Inara had run into him coming out of Nandi's room while putting his shirt on, wasn't adding to the burden. But he was almost certain it was.

He might be mostly blind to the way Inara felt about him, but in a split second, before she had managed to bury it, there had been hurt in her eyes. He knew he would do anything to remove it. So here he was talking with her, on the walkway above the cargo bay, about his feelings.

He'd rather have been made to crawl, on his knees, across the Paradiso train station to lick her boots than be in this conversation, but here he was talking about his feelings.

5.

Mal was in Inara's shuttlecraft and down on his knees. It wasn't a thing like he had imagined it to be all year. He had imagined being there for some kinky, sex related reason. Instead he was there to beg her to stay but the words weren't coming so he pretended to be fixing some wiring to make the flight to the training house as swift and smooth as possible.

Since he hadn't managed to convince her to stay for Kaylee's sake and he couldn't demean them both by begging, Mal was going to have to swallow the bitter pill and fly her to the training house himself. There was still time, but Mal doubted that Inara would even notice his current position let alone take advantage of it, so he just reached for the tool he had set down beside him and went to work.

-x-


End file.
